AV debut – S1 and Alice Japan

Asami was born in Gunma prefecture on March 24, 1987, and made her AV debut in October 2005 at the age of 18. She has been under contract from 2005 with two large Japanese AV studios, Alice Japan and S1 No. 1 Style. She has made about one movie a month for each of them since the beginning of her career. Most of her videos with S1 have been with director Hideto Aki while her Alice Japan videos have been primarily directed by Yuji Sakamoto. Both studios specialize in the “softer” type of pornography with straight sex scenes involving a solo actress, little or no storyline, and an avoidance of the more extreme activities of Japanese porn.

Asami has been one of the most popular AV actresses in Japan since her debut and has regularly placed at the very top in DVD sales and rentals. The DMM website listing of the top 100 AV actresses by sales ranked her as number 1 in both 2006 and 2007.

Asami has been involved with a number of unusual projects for Alice Japan, mostly with director KENGO. Among these are Amateur Actor Audition – Yuma Asami, released in 2007, with a plot where she supposedly interviews 10 potential AV actors between the ages of 19 and 41 and tests their abilities. On the opposite side of the coin, in the 2008 video AV Actress Audition – Yuma Asami, the storyline has her acting as the company rep interviewing and coaching 10 aspiring AV actresses. In another video from 2008 (Number One Idol Yuma Asami Produce Real Virgins) she meets specially selected “virgin” fans who are gently initiated by the actress.

Asami was recognized by AV fans for her work by winning the Grand Prix award at the 2006 AV Actress Grand Prix. In 2007 her S1 video Hyper Risky Mosaic – Special Bath House Tsubaki made with 11 other S1 actresses won the First Place Award at the 2007 AV Open competition. In addition, at the annual 2008 Adult Broadcasting Awards, a competition among adult TV channels on satellite broadcaster SKY PerfecTV!, Asami won the award for “Most Appearances” in 2007. She “wowed the crowd” by bending over several times to expose the tops of her breasts. Her November 2008 video Double Risky Mosaic, Rio & Yuma was the S1 entry in the 2009 AV GrandPrix where it won the top GrandPrix Award as well as taking the prizes for DVD Sales and Package Design, the Retailers Award, and the Best Featured Actress Video Award.

In June 2010, Asami starred in one of the first two AVs made in 3D, the S1 produced Attracting The Best Stereoscopic 3D Yuma Asami Sex BODY. The release of the two videos matched the introduction of 3D televisions by Sony and Panasonic and were expected to increase sales of the TVs. When the major Japanese adult video distributor DMM held a poll of its customers in 2012 to choose the 100 all-time best AV actresses to celebrate the 30th anniversary of adult videos in Japan, Asami took second place.

Non-AV appearances

In addition to her hardcore video activities, Asami has also made several “gravure” videos, which are essentially glamour films which may include nudity but no sexual acts. She was the star of the softcore direct-to-video (V-Cinema) erotic action flick Ninja She Devil (妖艶くノ一伝 ～鍔女篇 Yoen kunoichi den tsubame hen?) directed by Yoshikazu Katō. The video, released by GP Museum in October 2006, also featured AV and pink film actress Lemon Hanazawa.

Asami also worked in television, performing in the J-dorama Shimokita GLORY DAYS (下北GLORY DAYS) along with fellow S1 actresses Sora Aoi and Honoka and singer-actress Aya Sugimoto. The 12 week series aired on TV Tokyo beginning in April 2006. She played the character Komori Miha in the series which was based on the manga of the same name and revolved about a ronin student moving to Tokyo and sharing a house with several beautiful women. In 2007 she appeared in Episode 5 of the late night TV Asahi erotic drama Shinjuku swan (新宿スワン 歌舞伎町スカウトサバイバル Shinjuku suwan kabukichou sukauto sabaibaru?). Asami also had a role in the 2009 sequel to the manga-based TV Tokyo series Jōō Virgin (嬢王 Virgin). The series about kyabakura hostesses also featured AV actresses Sora Aoi, Akiho Yoshizawa and Saori Hara.

In another genre, she was also in an erotic horror pink film, Siren X (妖女伝説セイレーンＸ～魔性の誘惑～ Yojo Densetsu Seiren X – Masho no Yuwaku?), directed by Hideo Jojo and co-starring Japanese AV actress Yuria Hidaka. In the movie, which premiered in Osaka April 2008, Asami is the mysterious and deadly proprietess of an inn. The film was released as a DVD in October 2008.

In October 2010, Asami starred in Shinshaku: Yojōhan fusuma no shitabari (新釈 四畳半襖の下張り), a “new interpretation” (Shinshaku) of the 1973 pink film The World of Geisha based on the novel by Kafū Nagai. The film was directed by former AV actress Kyōko Aizome and also featured Kyoko Hayami who had appeared in the 2003 cult hit The Glamorous Life of Sachiko Hanai. The film was released as a DVD in January 2011. She also starred in two more pink films for Shintōhō Eiga directed by Kyōko Aizome, the June 2011 Abe Sada: Saigo no nanokakan (阿部定 ～最後の七日間～?) in the role of Sada Abe, and the December 2012 Captive Market (奴隷市 Dorei ichi?) based on a novel by Oniroku Dan.

Asami played the role of Oshichi in the mainstream erotic period drama Princess Sakura: Forbidden Pleasures (桜姫 Sakura Hime?). The film, directed by Hajime Hashimoto and released in June 2013, was based on the kabuki play Sakura Hime Azuma Bunsho with a modern twist.

Other activities

In 2006, Asami was featured as a Cabaret Club hostess in the PlayStation 2 videogame Yakuza 2. She debuted as a singer with the J-pop CD, Resolution, in January 2008. The CD was packaged with a bonus DVD which includes images, a making-of video and a music video. She was also a member and sometimes leader of the J-pop girl’s group Ebisu Muscats from its foundation in 2008 until its final concert in April 2013.

She has also been active in advertising making promotional videos for the adult website Tospo.jp with the QR Code for their site covering her breasts. She also appears on a T-shirt marketed in a collaboration between Cex Work, a new company started up by photographer Yasumasa Yonehara, and the apparel label THE MASK. The T-shirt, released in October 2007, featured a semi-nude photo of Asami taken by Yonehara.

Cancer

Asami announced on June 6, 2013, that she had had surgery in February 2013 to remove an ovarian tumor and was currently undergoing treatment and chemotherapy. The tumor was discovered when Asami had an MRI scan because of stomach problems. After removing her uterus and ovaries, the doctors described the cancer as borderline malignant and classified the tumor as Stage 3 (out of four) as to development. An update from August 2013 reported that she had undergone six chemotherapy treatments and was “on the road to recovery.”

In a February 2014 interview, Asami said she wanted to continue with her music career and was writing an autobiography. The autobiographical work Re Start ~どんな時も自分を信じて~ (ISBN 978-4062185486), (the Japanese in the title translates as “Always Believe In Yourself”) describing her early life and her battle with cancer, was published by Kodansha (出版社:講談社) in May 2014. She was also working with a non-profit group “Cancer Net Japan” to promote awareness of ovarian cancer.

On May 20, 2015, Asami announced that she was retiring from the AV industry but that she would be continuing in her career as a musician and singer.